There is something i would like to add to right mind … would like to hear comments by others as well, especially from those with deep experience…
Although shichida says start young etc … most of the things that he recommends is highly dependent on the child knowing how to follow your instructions … (that is where the problem comes in) to be able to follow instructions it means the child must be able to undestand the words that your instructing them to do … and visualization skills etc means something that could be quite abstract to the child … and may require a certain degree of left brain work to understand, analyze and execute … so after reading some of the books most of the so called right brain thingy exercise is subjectively dependent on the maturity and thinking level of the child or ability to understand the words in order to follow the instructions to do right brain training … and normally above 2 or even 3 yr old are more capable of that … so … if you just depend on so called right brain training … from birth … you might face a problem later … so in a way in my personal opinion to decide when a child is more able to attend a shichida class would depend on the child’s ability to understand and follow instructions … but that would require a degree of left brain work … it may therefore be more beneficial if the parent does more flashing in as many form as possible to so called activate right brain memory … kind of infant memory work-out…
Exactly what is right brain training … i think i written something on it some one yr back … the idea of flashing cards becomes synonymous with right brain workouts. The basic idea of flashing cards etc, is to so called activate the right brain potential … things moving in a flash helps activate the right brain function … a snap shot of the things flashed is stored in the right brain … like a hard disk, the ability to process such a disk would depend on the left brain. But so far … i haven’t been able to read pass peoples experience on the child’s development month by month. (maybe we need a certain diary of events by people who has done it so that …new comers can see and read about it so they know what more or less to expect)
Anyway there are people who doesn’t do flashing and just read books and show colouful pictures with words on it to the child … and they are also equally good early readers …, so how much of it credits the right bran or left brain ? One of the key component of right brain is flashing as many cards as possible and under 1 second per card … if that is not done is it still right brain or is it normal left brain … and according to GD and shichida … it is left brain … so flashing words itself and pictures are not neccesarily right brain … it becomes early teaching and continuous repetition of words such that the child gets early familarization vs …children whose parents teach their child later, … and therefore the side effect of so called flashing = right brain ideology … may actually be flashing = early teaching … and is still left brainer …
The one thing i am definitely confidant about saying is … flashing cards let my child be familiar with words in multiple languages and so isn’t so afraid of meeting words in books … and she thinks it is the normal thing in this world …
what i am saying is … right brain flashing may not necessarily be so right brain … as over time when the baby’s left brain takes over … and logic comes to play … it may end up being left brain flashing … (this is especially so after 1 yr old), as for shichida right brain thingy … constant memory workout, visualization, meditation seems to be more likely the core …
unfortunately we cannot ask 2 parents to put one so called left bran training and the other right brain training to the test to see which child works out better … in any case we would have difficulty strictly defining what is right brain training or left brain training … it’s just that right brain training starts early … so what is left brain training? no training at all? and at what age does it start?
I have the following observations which relate to this topic:
For sure, some activities (like certain Shichida activities) require a child’s understanding, and hence they are only taught using those activities at later ages. In fact, from what I know, Shichida classes only take in kids who are at least, what, 3 years old?
Re flashing, it becomes more right-brain where it’s flashed so fast that the conscious mind doesn’t have time to analyse it, and it’s just a massive rapid input of images (could be words) and associated sounds (ie., the names of the images/words). The faster you flash, the less your conscious mind will get in the way, and the more right-brain it is. Who knows at what speed the left brain starts to insert itself? Probably no defined line.
I don’t think it can, or should be, or need be, so compartmentalized into right and left-brain learning. It’s not so black and white. Also, I don’t think people who encourage right-brain learning discourage left-brain learning either.
Having said that, a child’s right brain is meant to be much more ‘open’ during early ages, and so if you want to use “right brain methods” (or methods which tap in more to the right-brain), then the earlier you do it the better, to catch the window. That doesn’t mean that non-right-brain methods should be ignored. Both have their place, and both should be used.
I prefer to look at activities as whether they work or don’t work, effective or not effective, instead of whether they are right-brain or left-brained. And one big component as to whether they work or not is how much my child likes it and how much it can hold her attention. In this regard, one advantage that right-brain methods have is that you flash it so fast that it doesn’t take as much time, and hence you don’t have to hold her attention so long. The advantage of the ‘left-brain’ methods is that they can be much more interesting, and therefore keep attention better (although you require more time in showing it).
Thx for the reply KL, you have much experience in this area since you start your child early nd she is 3+ now … perhaps you and others like you can share your experience and observation …
I am, well i wouldn’t say obsess, but wishing to clarify and define so that i know what i am really doing so as to help my girl … which i am sure after more than a yr of flashing parents would like to find out … i mean flashing daily preparing new materials and still keeping up the joyous teaching attitude can be quite …wanting …, and sometimes not really knowing what the end results really should be …
A friend of mine doesn’t do flashing but her child reads just as well at 2+y. According to GD its about reading, math, wealth of knowledge etc … which we all hope our child would have … but when they’re 1yr old, how much of the encyclopedia would they really understand … I have done loads of flashing 2,000 words in english more than 2,000 in chinese, done 4-step multiple equation, would go into complex math if i were to go further … hired a japanese teacher to play read with her, its beginning to sound rediculous for a 1+yr old … so at this stage in so called right mind program … i am begining to run out of words to teach … but yet i doubt she fully understood all the words taught … maybe at 1y old we can’t really see any results … or what kind of results are expected … (in any case teaching her more than 3 languages resulting in her not able to vocalise and hence speak early, so after 1 yr we reduced to 1 language first, idea of multi language before 1 is so as to help her tune in to the frequancy or pitch of the language thus gaining native language ability subsequently… which will be re-introduced back in 6 mths interval my own program)
But that’s where the next step comes in, to teach her the meaning of the words, word on one side and picture on the other … she is more interested in the picture than the word now … but to teach the meaning of the word it becomes left brain workout … I am not sure if i am doing it wrong or rather too early … as she is begining to attach the word’s meaning to the picture, and starts to point at everything and asking for the name … she would walked to table and ask “this” and sometimes saying the name of the object … which i believe is left brain… i mean its good but … her left brain is taking over (she is 1yr 2m)… and flashing of words would only result in wanting to know the meaning of the word … rather than copied straight into right brain …
I think what i am trying to say is … after so much flashing and starting at birth or 2mth for words and done tediously everyday except when she is sick, and covered so much … what’s next ?? more flashing ?? or shift to left brain work out,… which i am begining to feel that is what i am doing … she understands more than 50 vocab, when i speak to her to do this or that, she understands straight away what i want her to do … is this part of right brain training or every child regardless of right brain automaticaly knows … (perhaps she is my first and only child for the time being, we don’t really have a yardstick to compare against.)
SO while i post i hope some parents with older child with or without right mind program would tell me oh that’s normal or oh that’s not …
As for your observation … according to my knowledge or observation …
shichida classes in singapore takes in infants and they recommend form birth … shichida himself says right mind training from birth or rather pre-birth…
your probably right … but it is also known that right brain people tend to … its kind of temporal thingy … meaning they observe, they absorb, then they are able to replicate instantenuously, but they forgot subsequently … it becomes kind of RAM type of memory … i have seen or read from case studies … so … in a way … its kind of photo copying machine, scan, copy, print … but no memory or understanding …
& 4) Again your right … so qn becomes what kind of left brain work out do we need to give … which sometimes i find lacking in examples … since nowadays its more right brain …and the right brain as “be all and cure all” … and if starting left brainwork works which i am sure many and any could be left brain … say even Montessori, would left brain gradually grow in usage and hence dominate right brain skills … which we try so hard to cultivate from birth, only to result in a left brainer … probably like their parents …
I think this is were i am trying to grasp …of course i understand what your saying and agreeing, but … flashing quickly does not mean understanding … n i am wondering if i should be re-doing the words again but this time with purpose, slower but much fewer with pictures and examples n exercises by using a continuous play testing approach … to reinforce into her long term memory … (however i find she is less understanding the spelt word than the voiced word, meaning if i flash the word table i would get less response than if i say the word “table” whereby she would then walk to it or point to it. Is this normal? shouldn’t she be able to read it?)
It could also simply mean she is more auditory prone than visual … since she is always dancing to music … the othe rthing about right brain traning according to shichida is with the right brain activited … baby’s tend to sleep in less … and afternoon nap is taken in 30 mins interval … after 30 mins they are fully recharged … which is why it is predictable knowing when my child would wake up … anyway there are other unexplained things or behaviour i could not say if its normal or not … since we do some shichda method on our own … certain skills or esp … or awareness … that sometimes i don’t know if it is normal in every child or it is because of the shichida methods we applied …
That's one of the drawbacks of just using word flashcards - you're not teaching the meaning. You're only teaching the association between the word and the sound of the word (ie., the pronunciation).
We always recommend doing more than just that, and try multisensory methods when pictures and videos are shown, and even sound effects, etc. Great thing is it becomes more meaningful to the child, and meaning is also taught. Even if you dont’ test them, you’ll find them letting you know they can recognize the word, for example by clapping when they see “clap”, etc. etc.
Flash cards are great but I would never recommend relying solely on flashcards. Just like I would NOT recommend relying solely on ANY ONE THING (not even Little Reader ).
And again, don’t stress so much over whether something is left-brained or right-brained. Really. Go for variety, and go for methods that are effective.
And yes, you’re absolutely right that your child may be more auditory than visual. In which case multisensory methods become even more useful, like showing a word and picture accompanied by sound effects.
thx KL … lots of stress for parents and people are still wondering if we are stressing our kids hahaha …
anyway so other than playing blocks, swimming or related exercise … and attending victoria … what other programs you have tried and think is beneficial or effective?? (is your child trilingual proficient or one language at a time?) we just finish interview at victoria … but she is was too young since she is born in dec … but we don’t want her to waste 1 yr … hoping she would go in with her cohorts …
Hmm i think you been thru it after all the flashing and when she was about 1+ what do you do next ?? until she is 3 yr old when you start on the shichida right brain training … or at least able to follow instructions to go to the next step like memory linking, speed reading etc … it’s that gap that i am wondering what i should be doing … when she cannot speak, nor can she express herself, nor can she understand nor follow instruction, and some call it the terrible 2s or active 1 … it seems more playtime, exploring time, fussing time, and less flash card time … what can we do to maintain the right brain thingy … glad to hear some suggestions from you and other forumers…
